Fall 2015 Intern Diaries: Entry #5

Last week more than 1,200 students from more than 50 colleges and universities across the country descended upon Atlanta for the 2015 PRSSA National Conference. The conference is hosted by the Public Relations Student Society of America or PRSSA. PRSSA, which is the preeminent organization for communications students, put together four days of workshops, keynote speakers and networking events for PR students. For the first time in 15 years, both the PRSA, the similar group for those out of school and in the PR field, and the PRSSA national conferences were held at the same time and location.

As a senior strategic communications major, I felt a strong desire to attend this conference. I entered with an open mind and left with new friends, ideas and motivation. The biggest takeaway from the conference was the idea of passion – passion for a career and an industry. Over the past few years through coursework and internships, I have found that it’s so important to love what you do. It is the desire to expand upon your passion through curiosity and research that leads to a successful and happy career.

One session I found particularly interesting hosted by Scott Farrell of Golin hit on this idea. The session outlined the four steps needed to discover that passion:

Be Smart

Get Experience

Travel

Be an expert

Farrell stated regardless of your career field and passion, these four steps can be useful. Keep reading the news, stay up-to-date with current events and make sure to travel. Passion comes from the ability to understand many things under a a variety of lenses and these four steps give you that ability.

The PRSSA National Conference was more than just about finding your passion, though. It was about finding your own personal path and a possible career in the field of communications. As someone interested in corporate communications with an emphasis in healthcare, the conference simply encouraged me to further pursue my career trajectory. The conference offered a wonderful opportunity to any motivated students to improve their understanding of a complicated industry and to set themselves up for a successful career.

It’s hard to believe I’ve only got a few weeks left here at Rountree Communications. I look forward to applying some of the lessons learned at the conference to my remaining work.